Hot Love In A Long, Cold Winter

Out shortly is the new Straight Arrow release “Hot Love In A Long, Cold Winter”, which contains the St. Petersburg and Columbia 1977 concerts from newly obtained original audience recorded cassettes which both have surprisingly good sound. The Elvis tour in February of that year was affected in various ways by the weather conditions, which sometimes resulted in delays at airports and illness among the musicians and crew members. Presley himself was in less than stellar condition, and complained of a sore throat on some nights. Elvis gained some weight since the last tour, and the manic feel of those final December nights was now gone, but from February 14, he was in good voice for all remaining shows of his tour, and he even included rarities like ‘Release Me’ and ‘Blueberry Hill’.

A large chunk of the February 14 show and 2 tracks from February 18 were released from a soundboard sources, but we feel that these audience recorded tapes makes for a more entertaining and exciting listening experience. Note: The February 18, 1977 show was released in 1992 („ELVIS RELEASE ME IN CONCERT“) by the Peaf label, which was taken from an inferior source. If you liked our previous outing, „Chicago Double-Strike“, you will enjoy this new release, too.

Cisco, you're absolutely right about the dates on Moody Blue & Other Great Performances. I pointed out Feb 16th because that's the date Elvis sang "Where No One Stands Alone" and a really great version of "Unchained Melody." I guess I should have expounded on the reason I noted Feb 16th.

Very pleased to see that the stupidity from our marketing expert under yet another screen name has been deleted, well done. To drag FTD into the subject of this audience recorded import set just proved he has an agenda to do nothing but complain. As for FTD, I love the Classic Album series and don't mind having the masters that I already have. I personally prefer the out-takes added to the masters on self contained album packages rather than CDs of their own. Is that right or wrong? Neither, it's just my preference and opinion, two things that some people cannot grasp.

Regarding this CD, I am pleased that Elvis' concerts are being documented in a way they deserve these days. Obviously they appeal to a minority audience, but that should not mean that they should not exist. There has always been a certain market for such recordings, once it involved tape trading with every decreasing quality but now we have decent packaging and sound as good can be expected.

The cover art looks pretty good, even though you can clearly see that Elvis is in poor health. For my tastes, I wouldn't buy this set for listening pleasure, but for historical documentation. My favorite recordings from 1977 are In Concert, followed closely by Fort Baxter's "Moody Blue & Other Great Performances" (Feb 16th, 1977). The latter is far from complete, but the sound quality is outstanding.

And I personly LIKE the direktion FTD has taken, now what shall FTD do, listen to me or to you ! And you have said several times that you dont buy FTDs anymore (unless they start to listen to you and release some on tour shows), actually you said you were selling them of. And of course you have the right to state your views on whatever, but people also have the right not to take them serious.

I personally dont like the direction ftd took with the collectors series and i think a box set on the american sound sessions would have been much better than a classic album release of the 2 albums,i simply dont like buying what i have. We as collectors dont need the masters again,i like to add to my collection not rebuy it. Also a on tour show no matter which one,they can pick the weakest one. Its not hating its views,and since i pay for them,i have a right to give my view. As for screen names,mine has always been the same,im a level headed guy.

It is really sad that some of the FTD haters on this site feel that they have to write under several different profiles so that the can create the illusion that there are more than two ( one ? ) that back up their silly complaining, please dont insult all of the sane members on this site, if no one back up your views, then there problably is a good reason for that !

This really seems to be die-hard-fan stuff. What else does one get out of a standard setlist only slightly varied by Love Letters (which surely was an attractive addition) Release Me (an reminiscence of greater times 7 years earlier) and a one liner from Fun in Acapulco? Too bad the man didn't make his Nashville date. How great would it have been to have gems like 'Rainy Night in Georgia' or new songs like 'That's What You Do To Me'. But, that's what it was. Maybe I am still a bit in shock about the recently heard College Park Show from Sept 28 1974...